A £282,000 grant aims to cut re-offending among young Bristol criminals by getting them playing sport.

Inmates at the Ashfield Young Offenders' Institution in Pucklechurch will benefit from the Football Foundation money.

It will allow Bristol's pioneering Second Chance Project, which runs intensive sports training sessions for offenders, to continue its work with the prison on a range of activities.

It is hoped through sport, youngsters will be able to channel their efforts into a life away from crime, eventually joining education and training schemes.

Youth worker Dennis Stinchcombe, of Second Chance, is involved in the sports programme.

Last autumn he told delegates at the Conservative Party conference how Second Chance was helping to restore pride in the teenagers from Ashfield.

Boys aged between 15 and 18 are referred to the project and start with a day-release course in boxing, football coaching and first aid.

It gives them role models, which they might not otherwise have had.

The Football Foundation, with a £40-million budget, is funded by the Premier League, the Football Association and the Government. Its chief executive, Paul Thorogood, said: "It is thanks to the funding we receive that the foundation exists to support this type of excellent project in Bristol."

The money was handed over during a visit by the Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire, Henry Elwes.

Pictured are, front with the cheque, Dennis Stinchcombe and James Mapstone of Second Chance, with Laura Cameron of the Football Foundation; back row, from left, PE manager Stewart Stacey, Liam Stinchcombe of the Riverside Project, James Rufey of Gloucestershire Cricket Club, Ben Breeze of Bristol Rugby, Andy O'Kane of the Riverside Project, Jack Russell from Avon Fire and Rescue, Lord Lieutenant Henry Elwes, Peter Aitkin of Bristol Rovers and Simon Hunt of Bristol Rugby.